Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), was accepted back into the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday, and immediately announced that he would seek a party nomination to run in next year’s legislative elections.
“I have returned to the big DPP family,” he said after learning that the DPP Central Executive Committee had approved his re-entry.
“I will follow the rules and regulations within the party to gain support from voters with my understanding of the law and my viewpoint as a young man, and represent the DPP in [Kaohsiung’s] Siaogang (小港) and Ciangjhen (前鎮) districts in the coming legislative elections,” he said.
Photo: CNA
“I will work with all my comrades within the party for the DPP’s victory in the presidential election, and to win more than 50 percent of the seats in the legislature,” he added.
Chen Chih-chung said he was grateful for the DPP committee’s decision.
Speaking to reporters at DPP headquarters earlier in the day, Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), who headed the panel reviewing Chen Chih-chun’s application, said the panel members unanimously supported the decision of the DPP Arbitration Committee that Chen Chih-chung should be able to return to the party.
“We collectively decided to approve his re-entry, and his party membership has been retroactively validated from September 2013, when he submitted the application,” Chen Ming-wen said.
Chen Chih-chung joined the DPP in 2006, but withdrew in 2010 to run in the Kaohsiung city councilor election as an independent.
His first application to re-enter the party in 2013 was rejected because the DPP charter stipulates that any member who withdraws from the party has to wait five year to regain membership.
Chen Chih-chung appealed the decision, saying that his withdrawal had not been voluntary, but was the result of negotiations with the party as he and his family were under investigation at the time. The Arbitration Committee ruled that he should not have to wait to rejoin.
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